Friday, December 21, 2007

My Gift Wrapping

My friends and family may no longer accept branches as gifts, but that doesn't mean that their gifts will be free of items from Nettleton Hollow! Last year Sword Fern was the botanical of choice to decorate my "unique" packages (as you can see, I love contrast - there's nothing like a satin bow on kraft paper), but this year it is Salal and Star Flowers.
While trying to figure out how to gussy up a bag containing nearly $100 worth of scented candles from 3R Living in Park Slope I came up with a cool trick to quickly and inexpensively turn a gift bag from ordinary to extraordinary:

1. Lay down a long strip of packaging tape sticky side up;
2. Place the stems of Star Flowers on the tape with the flowers a few inches above the tape (not too heavily though, as you'll need to leave plenty of the glue exposed to stick to the bag);
3. Cut tape to length; and
4. Apply to the inside of the bag.
In the picture above, Salal was used as a background for the Star Flowers, but it would still look fantastic with any tissue paper of contrasting color. Simple as that, and one bundle of Star Flowers will provide quite a few feet of "flower tape."
Gorgeous, Justin, but is it practical - won't the flowers get destroyed the second a clumsy customer or inebriated guest grabs the bag? Despite their delicate appearance, both the blooms of the Star Flowers and the stems are incredibly resilient - ideal traits for an application like this. (I definitely wouldn't try it with lavender).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great work! Will the bag be available for sale in the future?

Justin said...

Thanks! The bags just might be available, although probably not through Nettleton Hollow - we have a friend who specializes in fancy packaging that incorporates our botanicals, and this would be right up his alley. I was talking the idea up on Friday and I'll be sharing your comment with him to bolster my case that this is an idea worth pursuing.

If you would like to know if and when bags like this are available, send an email to service@nettletonhollow.com with "gift bags" in the subject line. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I want to buy these bags for my wedding guests as part of the gift bag. How much do they cost?

Justin said...

We're afraid it looks like the bags won't be available any time soon - there has been a major crop failure of Star Flowers, seriously limiting the supply.